The Bohemian Wedding
by Data Girl 3
Summary: Penny gives in to Lucia’s request for a bedtime story, and retells the eventful story of Roger and Mimi’s wedding.  For Mandyrenthead, who asked for it.
1. Prologue

Nine-year-old Lucia sat in bed, frowning up at the ceiling. She refused to glace over when her older sister, Penny, entered the bedroom they shared.

"Hey, Lucia," Penny smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"It's not fair," Lucia complained. "Why do I gotta stay home? I wanna go see the movie with Mommy, Daddy, Zack and Rodolfo."

"I know you do," Penny replied in understanding. "But you have chicken pox. You have to stay in bed. Believe me, I know it's no fun. I had chicken pox when I was seven, and Mom didn't let me leave bed, either. Actually, considering we lived in the Center at the time, she put me in quarantine so I wouldn't pass it to the other children."

"Penny?" Lucia suddenly smiled at her sister. "Tell me a story?"

"Oh, you want a story, huh? What kind of story do you want?"

"I want one of your stories! The ones about Mommy and Daddy, and Auntie Maureen, and Aunt Joanne, and Uncle Roger, Uncle Collins, and Aunt Mimi! I love those stories, especially the one about Auntie Maureen trying that handcuff magic trick, and Mommy coming to the rescue." Penny smiled softly, reflecting. Lucia loved hearing about the old days, and all the crazy misadventures the Bohemian family had. For a few minutes, Penny racked her brains, trying to come up with a story Lucia hadn't heard of yet.

"Okay," Penny announced finally. "How'd you like to hear the story about Uncle Roger marrying Aunt Mimi? Does that sound good?" Lucia flashed her brightest smile and lay back in bed, waiting for Penny to begin the story. "It was, oh, about fourteen years ago now. Uncle Roger had scraped together some money, which was _very _hard to come by for us back then, and took Aunt Mimi to a good 'sit-down' restaurant, with those waiters in stuffy suits. It was there that he asked Aunt Mimi to be his wife. Aunt Mimi loved Uncle Roger more than anything in the world, so she said yes. But that, Lucia, was just the beginning. Uncle Roger and Aunt Mimi were Bohemians. And when you're a Bohemian, not even the most typical thing can be done normally."

* * *

**AN: **As you may have guessed, this story is one big flashback. It was supposed to have been posted before The Story of my Parents, but that story just flowed onto paper. Hope you enjoy it.


	2. You and Me, And They Make Four

**AN: **The main story begins here. It might be a good idea to review my earlier story, Her Saving Grace, since that story takes place almost immediatly before the events in this one. But it's not really necessary. So, read on and enjoy.

* * *

Mimi was shoved against the closed metal door that led into the Loft. Her legs and arms were wrapped around Roger's body, which was pressed tightly against her. So tightly that Roger was slightly worried about crushing her. The two were just returning home after their Big Date and just couldn't seem to get enough of each other. Their tongues were completely entwined, enabling them both to taste the remnants of the Chicken Alfredo they'd shared at the restaurant.

After what seemed like an eternity, Roger came up for air, lightly pulling on Mimi's lower lip with his teeth.

"Say it again," he ordered softly. Mimi's smile widened as she rested her forehead against Roger's.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Yes, what?" Roger urged, starting to tickle her waist. Biting back a fit of giggles, Mimi submitted to his wish.

"Yes, Roger Davis. I will marry you." Hearing those words gave Roger a fresh desire to kiss her even deeper then he had earlier. A low moan rumbled in Mimi's throat as she wrapped her arms and legs tighter around him. A few seconds later, Roger pulled back abruptly and ran his darkening eyes over Mimi's face.

"Come on," he spoke in an extremely rough voice. "Let's go in." Mimi couldn't hold back a sudden shiver, seeing in his face how hot and bothered he was. Reluctantly, Mimi untangled her legs from around Roger's waist and slid the metal door open. With a mixture of urgency and gentleness, Roger pushed her back into the Loft, kissing her once again.

"It's you and me, tonight, Meems. Tonight and every second after that," Roger whispered softly, burying his face into her hair. "Just you and me…" Roger trailed off as he glanced up at the couch. "Oh. And they make four." Mimi followed Roger's eyes to the couch and laughed softly. Mark and Emily were both sitting on the couch, slightly slouched and leaning against each other. They were both sound asleep. The television was flickering with the snow pattern, casting its faint light on the sleeping pair's faces.

"Looks like they were watching a movie," Mimi realized, seeing the cassette tape sticking out of the VCR. Careful not to wake her friends, she draped a threadbare blanket over them before casting a teasing glance back at Roger. "You know, we _really _shouldn't risk waking them up," she smirked, walking up to him flirtatiously. "It might be a good idea to just go to sleep."

"Oh, no you don't, Mimi Marquez," Roger grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, a devious smile on his face. "You cannot lead me along, getting me all excited, and then just drop me, you know."

"So what do _you_ think we should do then?" Mimi asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You know it would be rude waking up Mark and Emily with our fun."

"Well it _is_ a warm night," Roger's voice lowered to a seductive tone. "And it'll be clear skies, so there would be a perfect view of the moon up on the roof."

"You can't be serious," Mimi let out a combination of a gasp and a laugh.

"Hey, why should dinner be the only thing that can be enjoyed al fresco?" Roger raised an eyebrow. "Besides, aren't you the one who is always saying 'no day but today'?" Mimi bit her lip, her brown eyes glinting mischievously, before standing on tiptoe to kiss her future husband passionately, running her hands through his long dirty blonde hair. Roger responded by stroking her back, his hands slowly migrating downward.

"I love you," Mimi whispered once they'd pulled apart.

"I love you, too," Roger replied with a tender kiss on the tip of her nose. Without further hesitation, they started their journey up to the roof.

* * *

It was nearly ten in the morning before Roger and Mimi came down from the roof. When they returned to the Loft, Mark was awake and drinking coffee. Collins was also there, paying a visit and slouched on the couch, puffing away on a joint.

"Hey, look who's finally decided to make an appearance," Collins grinned the moment they entered. "Don't tell me you're just coming home."

"Well, if you must know, we spent the night up on the roof," Roger explained, choosing to ignore Collins' wolf whistle.

"Why'd you spend the whole night up there, anyway?" Mark asked in confusion.

"We didn't want to wake you and Emily," Mimi explained, pouring out some coffee for her and Roger.

"Wait a minute," Collins looked up with blatant interest. "You mean Emily was here last night?"

"Oh, yeah," Roger's face broke out in a teasing smirk. "She and Marky were looking pretty cozy on that couch when Mimi and I came home."

"Really?" Collins turned to Mark with a large grin on his face.

"Nothing happened!" Mark exclaimed insistently. "We were just watching a movie and fell asleep!"

"Oh, sure. Of course," Collins nodded before taunting him with mock kissing noises.

"Collins, I mean it! Nothing happened!"

"Aw, come on Mark. I know that. I'm just playing with you." Mark just shook his head and turned his attention back to his coffee and the latest issue of _The Village Voice_.

"Where is Emily, anyway?" Mimi looked around.

"She left a while ago to pick up Penny from her friend's slumber party," Mark explained. "She'll be back later on."

At that moment, a familiar voice shouted out from the street.

"Hey, Mark, Roger, Mimi!" Maureen's voice called out. "Will one of you send down the key?"

"Why doesn't she just use the payphone across the street like Collins does?" Mimi wondered out loud as Mark went out onto the fire escape to throw down the key to Maureen and Joanne, who were waiting below.

"Why bother?" Roger jibed. "Her voice is loud enough." Mimi rolled her eyes and lightly smacked Roger's arm. "Hey, come on, Meems. Didn't you bruise me enough last night?" he joked.

"Hey, everyone!" Maureen belted out as she and Joanne entered the Loft. "What's up with everyone today?"

"Well…" Mimi grinned widely up at Roger, who wrapped an arm around her waist. "We actually have some interesting news."

"What is it, Mimi?" Joanne asked.

"Here's a hint," Mimi smirked, holding out her left hand in such a way that the sunlight glinted off the round diamond. Seconds later, Maureen let out an excited squeal.

"Are you serious!?" She shrieked, launching herself at the couple and puling them both into a squeezing hug.

"Congratulations, you two!" Joanne added, following her lover's example.

"So, the ol' pretty boy frontman's finally decided to tie himself down, huh?" Collins teased, shoving Roger's shoulder, who responded with the finger.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Maureen was practically bouncing as she grabbed Mimi's arm and started leading her out of the Loft with Joanne following. "Well, come on then! We got so much to do! We gotta pick out dresses, and color schemes, and buy shoes, and…" Within seconds, the girls were out the door.

"Think Mimi'll be able to survive Maureen when she's this excited?" Collins wondered.

"Sure," Roger nodded. "Mimi's strong. If she can survive withdrawal, she can survive anything."

"Well, congrats once again, Rog," Collins beamed. "Wish I could stay longer, but I have a class today. I'll stop by later."

"Yeah, come to think about it," Mark spoke up. "I noticed that you and Mimi were getting low on AZT. I'm heading down to the clinic to pick up some more for you. Would you like to come, Roger?"

"Nah. You go ahead, Mark," Roger declined. "I got things to do myself today."

"Sure. You know, maybe you could think up something for you to play at the wedding. I think Mimi would like that. You know she likes hearing you play that fender of yours. Just as long as it's not anything like Musetta's Waltz."

"Oh, right," Roger nodded after a brief pause. "Yeah. Thanks for the idea."

Once Mark had left, however, Roger cast an eye over to the fender's case that was propped up in the corner of the room, trying to hold back a groan. If only his friends knew why him playing the fender at the wedding would be impossible.


	3. Building the Guest List

Two days had passed, and only now were Roger and Mimi given the chance to plan by themselves. Joanne had finally convinced Maureen to give them some time alone and go with her, Mark, Emily and Penny to a Yankees game. So apart from Collins, who was napping on the easy chair, occasionally mumbling a tune under his breath every-so-often, they had the Loft all to themselves.

At the current time, Mimi was lying on the couch, with her legs resting on Roger's lap, who was more then happy to lightly caress them with his fingertips. Mimi took this moment to bring up the issue of the guest list.

"Hey, that's easy," Roger chuckled. "You, me, and the rest of the gang. Oh, and I guess Nana."

"Well, we really should invite the people from Life Support, too," Mimi pointed out.

"Of course, they're a given," Roger agreed before a smirk started forming. "I don't suppose you're going to invite your former co-workers, too?" Instantly catching on to the jab at her old job, Mimi leaned forward to smack the back of his head. "Ow!" Roger winced as her hand make contact, reaching back to rub the sore spot.

"Serves you right, babe," Mimi grinned. "Don't you dare forget how pleased you always get that I used to work there whenever you're in the mood."

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Roger apologized, still rubbing the back of his head. After a moment of silence, he spoke up again. "You know, that really _did_ hurt." Mimi broke out laughing as she turned his head so she could place a tender kiss on the sore spot, grinning when she heard the contented moan rumbling in his throat. In response, he reached out an arm to pull her to his side. The two sat cuddled together for a long moment, until a hesitant look crossed Mimi's face, showing she really didn't want to bring up the issue she was about to.

"Roger? Maybe… we should think about inviting our parents, too." At Mimi's words, Roger's eyes shot open with surprise.

"You're serious?"

"They're our parents. They have a right to…"

"Yeah, I know. It's jut that… you've never really mentioned your parents before, apart from that brief mention of your father when we first met. You just caught me by surprise, that's all. And… I always assumed it was because you didn't have the best relationship with them."

"Yeah, well… they never really agreed with my dreams of being a dancer. They thought it was a nice thing as a hobby or something. But they thought I should go into something like nursing, or become a real estate agent. You know, something with a sure paycheck involed."

"So that's why you ran away?"

"Who… how'd you know that?" Mimi turned her head, staring at him in astonishment.

"Angel told me," Roger confessed. "She said you ran away at fifteen to become a dancer." The mention of Angel brought a brief sadness to Mimi's face.

"I miss her."

"I know, baby. I miss her, too." Roger pulled Mimi onto his lap and held her close, rocking her back and forth. After a moment, he spoke up again. "So… are you sure about that? Inviting your parents, I mean."

"Yes. They're my parents. I may not have really been in contact with them in six years, but they'd want to hear about this."

"Then we'll invite them."

"Yours too?" Roger hesitated for a moment. He'd been out of touch with his parents for a while as well, barely writing to them since finding out about the HIV. He momentarily wondered how they would react to the news that their only son was going to marry a woman they'd never met. He couldn't imagine them being too happy about it. But on the other hand, inviting them would give them a chance to see exactly why he wanted to marry her.

"Yeah," Roger finally agreed. "Mine too." Mimi responded with a loving kiss on his lips.

"Thanks, Rog, babe." As the two continued planning, the door slid open and Robbie, Roger's band-mate and friend, entered.

"Yo, Rog," Robbie greeted.

"Hey, Robbie. What's up?"

"Well, first of all," Robbie began, "I want to say sorry if I'm interrupting any wedding planning stuff. Congrats, by the way, and good luck keeping him in line, Mimi."

"Oh, I think I'll have no problem there," Mimi smirked, tracing one of her fingers over Roger's leg, dangerously close, prompting a slight jump from him, followed by a goofy smile.

"Right, of course. Anyway, Roger, the guys sent me down here to fetch you, for an emergency meeting. It's about the… the _thing_." Roger frowned slightly, understanding what Robbie meant by the 'thing'.

"Okay. I'll be down in a moment." Roger reluctantly pulled Mimi off his lap. "Sorry, Meems. This is something I need to take care of. I'll be back soon, okay?" Roger placed a kiss on Mimi's temple. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

After Roger and Robbie had left, Mimi made her way into their room. Hopefully, Roger wouldn't mind if she borrowed a blank page in his notebook to start writing up the guest list. Taking one of his pens, she started to write the names down, remembering that they had to keep it small, for the expenses issue. However, as she started to work on the guest list, she glanced over at the bed, and noticed Roger had forgotten his leather jacket. Grinning to herself, she picked it up off the bed, where it had been thrown casually earlier, and began to go after Roger. But as she picked it up, a crumpled piece of paper happened to fall from one of the pockets.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up, the jacket momentarily forgotten, and smoothed it out. It turned out the paper was a receipt from a local jewelry dealer. A receipt for her ring. For a second, she was going to forget she saw it, until she noticed the price on the receipt, and her jaw dropped in shock. That had to have been a mistake. There was no _way_ any of them had that kind of money. Roger would have to give up his gig money for six months to pay this off, and they needed that money for rent and AZT. So what on earth was he thinking? How could he possibly come up with this much?

Mimi exited the bedroom and took up perch by the window, forgetting all about catching up to Roger to get him his jacket. For now, her only concern was finding out how Roger could have afforded the ring. And she was going to find out, no matter what.


	4. What Roger Did

Mark, Emily, Maureen, Joanne and Penny made their way up to the Loft. Penny was a little ahead of the others, with Emily's old Yankees cap on her head, tossing around the foul ball she'd caught during the game, and trying not to laugh as she listened to the adults talking behind her.

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Maureen," Joanne was saying. "It was just a glob of mayonnaise that fell onto your hot dog. It wasn't going to kill you. There was no reason to shout in disgust and throw it into the trash."

"It's gross!" Maureen pouted. "Mayonnaise on a hot dog. Emily, how can you eat them like that?"

"They put mayonnaise on burgers all the time," Mark defended Emily's preference in hot dog condiments. "It's not that unusual."

"Oh why don't the two of you just start a fan club for gross toppings for hot dogs?" Maureen continued, rounding on Mark. "You could go off and be the King and Queen of strange tastes, with her liking mayonnaise, and you always wanting that cabbage stuff on yours."

"It's sauerkraut," Emily spoke up. "And a _lot_ of people eat hot dogs with sauerkraut, just like there are others who put mayonnaise on their hot dogs."

"Why am I not surprised you two are defending each other?" Maureen mumbled as she slid the metal door open. Inside the Loft, Mimi immediately looked up from her spot by the window.

"Roger, you need to… oh, it's you," Mimi trailed off. "I thought it was Roger coming back from his emergency band meeting."

"What did he do now?" Joanne asked, noticing the dancer's expression.

"I found this," Mimi walked over and handed her friends the receipt for her ring. "Look at the price."

"That can't be right," Mark stared at the price.

"You don't _know_ where he got that much?" Mimi eyed him skeptically. "You're his best friend."

"I know, but he never said how much he had to pay for that ring," Mark replied. "I thought he stuck to our limited budget." Mimi and Mark turned to Maureen and Joanne.

"Don't look at us," Maureen insisted.

"We didn't even know what Roger was planning until you showed us the ring," Joanne agreed. Mimi frowned as she suddenly noticed Emily fiddling with her locket, the way she always did when she was feeling nervous.

"Emily," Mimi gave her a stern glance. Emily looked even more awkward when she noticed everyone was now looking at her.

"He… he made me promise not to say…." she admitted hesitantly.

"Not to say _what_?" Mimi marched right up to her, looking very irritable.

"I can't, Mimi. I'm sorry, but…"

"Emily?" Mimi cut her off. "I'm really sorry, but you give me no choice." Before anyone could say anything, Mimi took hold of Emily's hand and started to bend her thumb back. "Tell me!"

"Mimi, cut it out!"

"What did he do?"

"He made me promise…"

"Just tell me!"

"Mimi, you're gonna break her thumb!" Mark imputed. Mimi placed a bit more pressure on Emily's thumb in response.

"She just has to say…"

"His Fender! His Fender!" Emily cried out. With that, Mimi let go of her hand.

"Roger's fender? What about it?" Mimi frowned. Emily took a moment to rub her thumb before finally meeting her friends' eyes.

"He made me promise not to say."

"What did he make you promise not to say?" Joanne encouraged.

"Um, Roger stopped by my place downstairs a week before he proposed," Emily gave in. "Said he wanted to talk."

**Flashback**

Roger took a seat on Emily's sofa, while Emily pulled up a stool. Wenceslas, Emily's pet potbellied pig, trotted up and sniffed at Roger's shoes until he picked the little black pig up and placed him on the couch at his side.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Emily asked as Wenceslas rested his head on Roger's lap, with Roger patting the pig's head. "Judging by the look on your face, it must be important."

"Well… Normally, I'd go to Mark, no offence…."

"None taken."

"Right. But in _this _case, I really think I need a _girl's _expertise. I don't really want to ask Maureen, because there's always the chance that she'd blab, and if I go to Joanne, Maureen might insist on tagging along, which still brings about the blabbing problem."

"So, I'm sorta your last chance, in a way," Emily nodded.

"I'm not saying that you're my last resort or anything like…."

"I didn't say you were. So, what's the problem that you need a 'girl's expertise' for?"

"Well, you know Mimi and I, we've been together since…." Roger began.

"Since before I met you guys, yes."

"Yeah. Well, I was sorta, kinda, thinking that… you could help me… pick out a ring for her?"

"You're gonna ask her?" Emily's face broke into a grin.

"I put it off long enough," Roger admitted. "I should have done it the second she got out of the hospital after she almost died that Christmas Eve. But I'm not gonna wait any more."

"Not to pry, but what's your budget?"

"I've got a little over five hundred saved up. Do you think that'll be enough?"

"Well… Nana had a distant cousin who worked for a jeweler once. I _think_ that you can still get rings at that price, but it would have to be a simple one."

"That's okay. I knew I couldn't afford anything too fancy. So, do you think you can help me pick one out? I mean, you're a girl, so you'd be a good judge."

"Yeah, I'll help."

* * *

Roger ran a hand down his face, accompanied by a deep sigh, as he scanned over the endless rows of rings in the display case. Of all the pointless things they tried to teach him when he and Mark went to school back in Scarsdale, why did they never offer any classes on picking out the right ring for a girl you loved? Sure, he knew the ring had to be inexpensive, but all these _looked_ it.

"Roger, I don't mean to sound impatient," Emily spoke up. "But you've been looking for about fifteen minutes, and the clerk looks like he's ready to kill you."

"I can't help it. The rings that come in a box of Crackerjack look better then these ones." Roger groaned. "Maybe we should try somewhere else."

"Somewhere else? You do realize this is the sixth store we looked in, don't you? I'm not trying to rush you or anything, but it is getting late, and I really should be starting to think about what I'm making Penny for dinner tonight. Leftover pizza can only last so long." Roger continued to look over the rings in the case before his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Maybe… I _should_ call it a night," he relented. "I just really wanted to find something today." However, as he started to turn, he looked one more time and saw it. "Wait a minute. Hey, Emily, look at this one." Emily glanced down at the ring Roger was pointing to. It was a simple solitaire ring with a white gold setting. But it was still quite pretty, with the diamond gleaming in the display lights.

"It's lovely," Emily agreed. Grinning widely, Roger motioned to the clerk.

"I'd like this one, please," Roger pointed out the ring he chose.

"A fine choice," the clerk nodded as he removed the indicated ring from display. "That will be two thousand." Upon hearing the price, Roger's eyebrows shot up and Emily's jaw dropped slightly.

"_WHAT_?!" Roger shouted.

"There's no need to scream, sir," the clerk scolded.

"Hang on," Emily stepped up. "Why is that one so much, when the ones over there are cheaper? I mean, they're the same size, same color…"

"Actually, they're _not_ the same," the clerk insisted with a snooty manner. "_Those_ rings are standard solitaire rings. The one your friend picked out, however, comes with a quality assessment certificate, and is guaranteed to be unmatched in brilliance. The price stands at two thousand. Since you two are _obviously_ from the low income class, which is clear from your attire, you would be better off with the cheap imitations."

"Roger," Emily sighed, noticing his hands were clenching. "It's not worth it. We'll just go somewhere else. I'm sure we'll find a much better ring for Mimi." Roger growled in frustration, and gave the ring a final glance. He had already been picturing giving that ring to Mimi, and imaging how it would look on her finger, and seeing her beautiful eyes shining even brighter then the diamond. But right before he turned to leave, he stopped as a thought entered his mind.

"Hang on. Emily, what time is it?"

"It's a little before 5:30. Why?" Instead of replying, Roger turned back to the clerk.

"Hey, would you be able to keep that ring out until I get back?"

"We close at six sharp," the clerk informed.

"Oh, I'll be back before then," Roger promised, hurrying out of the shop, with a confused Emily following him.

* * *

A short time later, Roger was practically running up the stairs to the Loft, with Emily behind him.

"Roger, come on!" she called after him. "What are you doing? Will you just explain what's going on in that head of yours?" Roger finally started talking as he slid open the door.

"It's gotta be that ring, Emily. It's like how you know you know you love someone. You just know it."

"But you heard how much that ring was. There's no way you'll be able to get enough money. And you are_ not_ going to head down to the Food Emporium's ATM."

"You've never really had a problem with that ATM before."

"That's because you take money out a little at a time, and you put it to things you need, like AZT for you, Mimi and Collins. But don't you think someone would notice if two thousand dollars suddenly went missing from that machine?"

"Emily, I don't think I ever said I was going to use the ATM," Roger pointed out. "I know a pawn shop around here. I went there once before, when I ran off to Santa Fe after Angel's funeral."

"Okay, but what exactly do you plan to…" Emily stopped when she noticed Roger was now holding his red fender, looking at it in torment. "Roger, you're not serious!"

"It's the only way," Roger closed his eyes, carefully storing it in its case. "I need the money for Mimi's ring, and I should be able to get a bit for this."

"But... Roger, you love that fender."

"I know," Roger looked over at her, his face set. "But I love Mimi more."

**End Flashback**

"His fender?!" Mark gaped.

"He gave up his fender?" Joanne echoed.

"What is he talking about, me blabbing?" Maureen cried. "Would I blab?"

"Auntie Maureen, I really don't think that's what you should be upset about," Penny laughed before smiling over at Mimi. "Wow. Roger must really love you, Mimi."

"He wouldn't let himself get talked out of it," Emily concluded. "He made me promise not to tell anyone." Mimi had sat quietly through the whole story, and she still remained quiet. Finally, she glanced up.

"Do you know where this pawn shop is, Emily?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I have business there now."


	5. A Love Worth Treasuring

Roger returned to the Loft hours later. He and his band mates had spent two hours trying to find if there was a company or local store that would be willing to loan them a guitar for an unspecified amount of time, but with no luck. If they couldn't find a backup guitar, he would have to leave the band indefinitely. He seriously hoped it wouldn't come to that, mostly because it would mean explaining to the others why he no longer had a job.

For now, however, he decided to just push those worries aside. Right now, all he wanted was food in his stomach and a couch to collapse on. Most of all, he needed to feel Mimi's gentle hand brushing against his rough cheek, or her warm lips on his own, to remind him how much she was worth all of this. But when he slid the door open, he found the Loft completely empty.

"Hello?" Roger called out, scanning the room for any sign of his friends. He started searching the Loft, looking into the bathroom, the room he shared with Mimi, and even Mark's room. But there was nothing. Not even a note on the metal table. He didn't like this. It wasn't like them to go off without telling him in some way, even if they were as short as Mark's 'Gone Filming' memos.

"Okay, guys. If you're here, the joke's over. It's not funny." As his worry started to increase, he glanced over at the window. Someone had taken a can of that artificial snow spray and drawn an arrow pointing up on the window. Next to the arrow was the words 'Come on up'. A small smile formed on Roger's face as he remembered a time that now seemed long ago, when another message had been left for him on that same window. Since he had ignored that message, it was probably not a good idea to do the same with this one. Roger left the Loft and made his way up to the roof. Once he made it up, his first thoughts was that it was deserted as well, but then he saw it. Propped up on display on the old cushioned chair that he and Mark had brought up to the roof on the day they had first moved into the Loft was his red fender, looking as sleek and new as ever. Hardly believing it, Roger moved almost numbly up to the chair and picked up the fender in his hands. His fingers made a few experimental plucks of the strings, revealing the fender was perfectly in tune.

"And this time, you better keep it," a voice scolded. "That's the _second _time you've sold your instrument. I'm starting to think you're not interested in being a rock god anymore." Roger spun around to find Mimi with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall bordering the roof.

"Mimi?" Roger was stunned for a moment. "How did you…? Aw, _sh-t_. Emily promised she wouldn't…."

"I _made_ Emily tell me. So if you're going to blame anyone, blame me." Mimi abandoned her spot by the wall and walked up to Roger as she spoke.

"How'd you get this back?" Roger asked, holding up the fender slightly.

"I still had some of my Christmas bonus from my dance class at NYU left over." Mimi explained. "When you combine that with the offer I made the pawn shop owner to arrange him a date with one of my old friends from the Cat Scratch, he was very easily persuaded to return it." Roger flinched slightly.

"You didn't have to do that, Meems."

"I know I didn't _have_ to, but I wanted…."

"No, it's not that. I pawned the fender to pay for your ring. If you give up your money to get the fender back, it's like… you're helping pay for your own ring."

"And that's a problem?"

"That's not how it's supposed to be, Mimi," Roger couldn't bring himself to look at her. "It's my job to buy the ring."

"Oh, Roger," Mimi shook her head. "You _know_ we've never lived by those old traditions. And you should know you don't have to act like the tough guy all the time. There is no chance I'm letting you give up your fender for a ring. And yes, if it means, as you put it, that I'm pitching in for the ring, then that's how it's going to be."

"I can't let you…"

"I'll make this easy for you, Roger," Mimi cut him off. "If you're not taking the fender back, then I'm not going to keep the ring."

"What? But…"

"In case you've forgotten, I remember you once saying that love's not a three-way street." Roger once again flinched, remembering the day he'd shouted that at Mimi. Before he could say anything, Mimi continued. "Well, Roger, it's not a one-way street, either. This isn't just about you giving to me. Once in a while, you need to accept me giving to you. The fact that you were willing to give that fender up for my ring is enough. Can't you let me show how much it means to me by letting me get the fender back in return?" It took a long moment for Roger to find his voice again. Finally, he gripped the fender tightly in one hand, and reached out with the other to bring Mimi closer, so their foreheads were touching.

"Why do you put up with me?" Roger asked in a soft whisper.

"Guess I just love you too much." As if Mimi's words were an incentive, Roger deposited his fender onto the chair before lifting the dancer clean off the floor, capturing her lips in a fiery kiss, twirling her around in his enthusiasm.

"Okay," Roger chuckled once Mimi had been returned to the ground, relishing in the feeling of her twisting his locks around her fingers. "I'll keep the fender. And thank you for getting it back."

"And thank you for loving me so much." Night fell as the two held each other close, treasuring the love they had found in each other.


	6. Problems Beginning

**AN:** I'm not exactly happy with how this chapter turned out. It just seemed odd to me. But I couldn't figure out how to make seem better, so I'm just posting it as is and crossing my fingers that it's not too awful, and that Mimi's not too OOC.

* * *

Collins entered the loft sometime around mid-morning with the intention of picking up Mimi. It was just the other day that they got the wedding invitations back from the printers. Apart from their parents and the other Bohemians, Roger and Mimi had decided to keep it small and just invite the members from Life Support, Roger's band mates, and a few of Mimi's friends from the Cat Scratch. Seeing how Mimi had never exchanged addresses with her old coworkers, she was going down to deliver them in person. Roger had voiced his reluctance many times about Mimi heading back there. Not because he was worried she'd be tempted back to heroin, but in case some of the clientele remembered her and tried to take advantage of the fact that she was no longer protected by the club's rule of not touching the dancers. In the end, Mimi had called up Collins who agreed to go with her, which managed to settle Roger's fears.

"Hello, Love Birds," Collins greeted as he slid the door open. Mimi was in the process of pulling on her boots on the couch, while Roger was at the table, sealing the envelopes that contained the invitations. "Ready to go, Mimi?"

"Just let me get the invites," Mimi announced, moving to the table and picking up a few envelopes with the names Kim, Roxane, Gail, Mariana, and Ruby. As Mimi stored the invites in her large bag, Roger, who was in the middle of sealing one envelope, stopped in mid-lick.

"You do promise to be careful over there, right, Mimi?" Roger spoke slowly, trying to keep his voice casual. "And if things even _start _looking bad, you'll leave?"

"Yes, Roger, for the hundredth time," Mimi shook her head. "Please stop worrying. Collins is being my personal bodyguard, remember? I'll be fine."

"Hey, I just don't want anything happening to my baby," Roger pointed out, reaching out to lightly squeeze her hand.

"Be cool, man," Collins chuckled. "I'll guard her with my life. You just worry about getting the rest of the invitations in the mail."

"And be sure to mail them before the postman comes by," Mimi reminded. "He always goes to the mailbox on the corner at half past noon, so get them in there before then."

"Yes, Mommy," Roger quipped, going back to licking the envelopes. After Mimi placed a gentle kiss on Roger's cheek, she left with Collins. As they made their way to the Cat Scratch, Collins passed Mimi a cigarette, which she gratefully started smoking.

"So, how's it going on selecting people for the wedding party?" Collins asked.

"Oh, that's an easy choice for Roger," Mimi grinned. "Mark was definitely going to be picked as best man, so there was no question there. And he's planning on you and his band friend, Robbie, being ushers."

"And how about you?"

"Well, I want Maureen, Joanne,and Emily to be a part of it. They're all part of this family."

"And which one's going to be maid of honor?" The instant Collins asked this question, Mimi's cheerful expression quickly shifted to an unhappy one.

"That's where I'm stumped," she confessed. "I always planned on Angel being my maid of honor if I ever got married." Collins wrapped an arm around the Latina and gave her a comforting, understanding squeeze. Of all the Bohemians, they had been the closest to Angel; her lover and her best friend.

"She would have been very happy for you," Collins consoled.

"I know she would. But it's still hard. I know it sounds dumb, but it feels like if I choose someone else as maid of honor, it's like I'm replacing her."

"Aw, Mimi. Angel knows you would never do that. You two were best friends, and there's nothing that can change that. She knows that no matter how many new friends you make, there's nothing that can make you forget or replace your best friend. And if you ask me, it's okay to have more then one best friend." A slow smile began to stretch across Mimi's face as she hugged Collins.

"Thanks, Collins. Angel was so lucky to have had you."

* * *

Mark walked down the city streets, pointing his Bolex camera every which way, determined to film anything he could. As he passed a random fire hydrant, a pair of familiar legs came into view. Mark quickly looked up from his filming to find he had nearly literally walked into Maureen and Joanne.

"Oh, hey guys," Mark greeted. "What are you doing out here?"

"This and that," Maureen replied vaguely. "Not much."

"We're just discussing some things," Joanne explained. "Nothing really important. What about you, Mark?"

"Well, I was heading down to meet up with Emily. She's having her lunch break with some of her coworkers from the _Village Voice_ and asked if I'd care to join them."

"Sounds like a date," Maureen pointed out, grinning widely.

"It's not a date," Mark denied. "It's just that her coworkers are all with someone, and she didn't want to feel like a fifth wheel, so she asked if I'd like to join up with them if I was free. You can even come along, if you want."

"Well, I guess we should be thinking about lunch about now," Joanne decided. "So are we going to the Life?"

"Actually," Mark shook his head as the three friends continued down the street. "It's somewhere Emily's coworkers introduced her to. Some sort of coffeehouse that Emily said was quite nice."

* * *

Down at the Cat Scratch, Collins waited outside the dressing rooms while Mimi hugged and spoke a mile-a-minute with her old friends.

"You're looking a lot better, Mimi," Mariana pointed out. "Last time I saw you here, you were walking around like a zombie." Mimi glanced away for a moment, knowing what Mariana was talking about. The last time she'd been here, she was still crushed over Roger leaving for Santa Fe. But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. After all, he was back for good now, and he'd promised he'd never leave again.

"So, then, what brought you back here?" Gail asked.

"I wanted to give you these," Mimi handed out the invitations to her friends who opened them promptly. "It would be great if you could be there." Each girl gave their word they would ask the Cat Scratch's manager for the day off so they could attend.

"Oh!" Ruby suddenly gaped at her invitation. "Mimi, I thought your mother's name was Tierra."

"It is," Mimi confirmed.

"Well, that's not what the invitation says. See?" Mimi glanced down at Ruby's invitation, carefully reading the words. When she reached her mother's name, her eyes widened.

"Sh-t!" Mimi hissed, seconds before she quickly ran out the door.

"Mimi, slow down!" Collins called after her as he tried to keep up with his friend. "What's the hurry?"

"I have to stop Roger from mailing the invitations!" Mimi called back.

* * *

Mark, Maureen and Joanne walked up to a small brick building with a green awnings hanging over the entrance. On the wooden hanging sign that was set up by the establishment's door and the large window that gave passersby the view of the coffeehouses' patrons seated at the tables was the name 'Kelly Koffeehouse' in vibrant yellow paint. Inside, it was a rather cozy atmosphere, with a few booths and about twenty small round tables designed for two to three people. Behind the counter, two black-haired, amber-eyed men, who looked as if they were brothers, were working alongside an auburn-haired woman with grey eyes. In one corner of the coffeehouse was a stage, where a banjo, a guitar, and a violin had been left out.

As the three Bohemians looked around the coffeehouse, they caught sight of Emily at one of the booths at almost the same time she noticed them.

"Hey, Mark," Emily greeted as she walked up to meet them. "Oh, and nice to see you, too, Maureen, Joanne. Guess Mark invited you to join us."

"Hope it's no trouble," Joanne replied.

"Yeah, 'cause if you'd rather it to be just you and Mark…" Maureen began, still on her stance that the invite was meant to be a date.

"Oh, no trouble at all," Emily shook her head. "I was planning on bringing the rest of you sometime here soon, anyway. And it's not like this was supposed to be a date. Mark and I are just friends."

Once the four of them joined Emily's coworkers at the booth, the photographer began to explain about the coffeehouse.

"This place is family-run," she began. "The woman making the latte over there is Eleanor. She's married to David, the guy taking the orders. The other man is Justin, David's brother. If you come here at night, you also get to hear them play. You see, it's not just the coffeehouse they maintain. They're also a family band, playing bluegrass and country, with Eleanor and Daniel's two sons, both a few years older then Penny, on harmonicas."

"Oh, if it's bluegrass, you'd never get Roger here," Maureen laughed. "You know rock's his only musical penchant."

"But what about those stories you told us about him playing at CBGBs?" Joanne challenged. "Doesn't the 'BG' in the name stand for bluegrass?"

"And since he is a musician," Emily added, "he should be able to appreciate all forms of music."

"Okay, but I still can't see him as liking that genre of music. I've always heard him playing rock."

"No you haven't," Mark pointed out. "Maureen, you lived with us at one point, remember? You were there all those times he started playing Musetta's Waltz. That was not rock."

"Fine," Maureen leaned back in her chair in full pout. "Gang up on me." Mark was about to speak up when Joanne beat him to the punch.

"Maureen, honey, we're not ganging up on you," she insisted. "It's called debating." As the two started up in what sounded like the beginning of a squabble, Mark quickly excused himself to get some drinks and sandwiches from the front counter. The woman Emily had named Eleanor was the one who passed him the food-filled tray. As she did so, Mark couldn't help but notice the pink ribbon pinned to her shirt above her heart. He paused for a moment to think about how quickly the colored ribbon symbols were catching on lately, and how he was quickly loosing track of which color meant what, especially since many of them were starting to have multiple meanings. Perhaps he should ask Dr. Jordan about it next time he saw him.

However, Mark pushed his musings aside for the time being to bring the tray back to his friends. By the time he got there, Maureen and Joanne had clearly stopped fighting, and were in the middle of a full-on lip lock.

"Have they always been like that?" Emily asked in a tone of amusement.

"Yeah," Mark answered after a slight hesitation. "Pretty much."

* * *

Back in the Loft, Roger was in the middle of a phone call when Mimi hurried in, with Collins appearing behind her moments later. Crossing the room in an instant, Mimi snatched the phone from Roger's hand.

"He'll call you back," she quickly told the person on the other end before hanging up.

"Meems, you just hung up on the priest who was available on…."

"Never mind! Roger, please tell me you didn't mail the invitations yet!" Mimi interrupted.

"I didn't mail the invitations yet," Roger echoed.

"Oh, thank God!" Mimi sighed.

"Why? What's wrong?" Mimi grabbed an extra invitation from the box on the table and held it up to Roger.

"What does this say?" she asked. The bemused Roger began to read the invitation.

"It says, 'Roger Davis, son of Kyle and Hannah Davis, and Maria Marquez, daughter of Carlos and Tierra Marquez, invite you to'…."

"What does this say?" Mimi repeated. Roger looked over at Collins, who was standing in the doorway, looking equally as confused. But once again, Roger decided to humor Mimi and reread the invitation.

"'Roger Davis, son of Kyle and Hannah Davis, and Maria Marquez, daughter of Carlos and Tierra Marquez, invite'…."

"What. Does. This. Say?" Mimi was stressing each word this time. Roger gaped at her for a moment, and read the invitation a third time, this time speaking slowly.

"'Roger...Davis,…son…of...Kyle…and...Hannah...Davis,…and...Maria… Marquez,…daughter…of...Carlos…and…Tiara…Mar…' OH!" Roger grabbed the invitation in horror, finally noticing the typo. "Aw, SH-T! I already mailed them!"

"You said you _didn't _mail them!" Mimi cried.

"Because you _told_ me to say that!" Roger pointed out.

"That's the most fu-ked up…. Roger, what are my parents going to do when they get the invitation and see my mother's name is misspelled?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't notice it!"

"Why didn't you look over them after they came back from the printers?"

"I did! I just missed one thing! And you missed it, too!"

"Guys, hang on!" Collins interrupted. "There's no time for this now. The postman comes at half past noon. We still have time to beat him down to the box and get them back." Groaning in frustration, Mimi took a vice-like hold on Roger's wrist and began practically pulling him after her.

* * *

Mark, Joanne and Maureen turned the corner on their way to the Loft. After Emily's lunch break, she had to head back to work, so she wouldn't be coming back home until later. As they turned onto the street, they found Mimi, Roger and Collins apparently auguring with the postman.

"You can't steal the mail," the postman was saying.

"But it's _our _mail," Mimi pointed out. "We mailed them, so it's not exactly stealing."

"Come on, just help us out," Roger begged. "We need them back, or we're _both _in trouble."

"What's going on?" Mark spoke up.

"Roger put the invitations in the mail," Collins explained. "But after he did, Mimi found a typo in her mother's name. Now they're trying to get them back to fix the typo."

"If they're in the mailbox, they're the post office's property," the postman threw in.

"But they weren't supposed to be mailed like _that_," Mimi augured.

"Okay, this is getting us nowhere," Joanne sighed. "Let me try." Joanne took the postman aside to discus the legalities of the situation

* * *

In the end, Joanne had convinced the postman to return the invitations so the typo could be fixed. But Mimi had also extended an invitation to the postman as well, saying it was the least they could do for hassle he had to go through. Roger, on the other hand, had remained quiet the rest of the day because he was slightly worried Mimi would continue to carp on how he'd sent out the invites with the typo. However, all this changed right before dinner, when she came into their room and wrapped her arms around him from behind, tracing the tattoo on his arm which could be seen poking out from behind the sleeve of his black t-shirt.

"Am I forgiven?" Roger asked.

"I suppose you're human," Mimi shrugged. "Besides, I didn't notice until Ruby pointed it out, either. So, yeah. You're off the hook."

"Good to know," Roger smiled, bending down to kiss her.


	7. The Wedding Coordinator

**AN:** This chapter has the return of two minor characters from my first RENT fic. Also, there's a reference to the popular American sitcom, The Nanny.

* * *

"Come on! It's my house!" Roger complained through the sliding metal door, which he was sitting in front of with his arms crossed. "You have no right telling me I can't come in."

"Do you want a pox on your wedding day, Roger Davis?" Nana's voice scolded in response. "If not, then stay out. Mimi is trying on her dress, and you are not allowed to see her in it until the ceremony itself."

"Nana, the superstition is that I can't see her for twenty-four hours before the wedding," Roger corrected.

"That's a general rule. But when she's in the dress itself, you cannot see her at all, regardless of how far off the day is." In frustration, Roger tilled his head back so it was resting against the door. He couldn't remember a time when he was more exasperated with Nana and her irritating, almost religious belief in superstitions.

Inside the Loft, Mimi was in the process of trying on the dress they had found at a second-hand shop. It was slightly off the shoulders with small faux pearl beads sewn in intricate designs across the bodice and around the helm. At the metal table, Mark, Emily and Penny were sharing some tea and sugarless cookies, waiting for Nana to be finished reattaching some of the loose beads and fixing the hem on the dress so the four of them could join Maureen, Joanne, Collins and Robbie with meeting the wedding coordinator to go over some things.

Chuckling softly, Mimi turned to Nana, who was packing up her sewing kit.

"Can't you just let him in?" She asked, taking pity on Roger who had been locked out of the Loft while Nana worked on the dress.

"I second that," Emily added, casting Nana a glaring look. "An atomic bomb is not going to drop on the city if you let him see her in a wedding dress."

"You can make fun," Nana waved a finger in Emily's direction. "You remember my second cousin, Pearl. She didn't pay heed to the old omens. Look what happened on _her_ wedding day!"

"Why? What happened?" Mimi asked.

"Nana, quit trying to scare her," Emily instructed. "Mimi, it wasn't anything major, and it had nothing to do with bad luck or any of that horse bunk. She just suffered an allergic reaction from some shellfish and her face kind of swelled up."

"Exactly!" Nana spoke with triumph. "And you know why? Because she decided to make her own wedding dress!"

"No, it was because the cooks were lazy, and mixed the tomato soup with the same spoon they used with the clam chowder," Emily replied.

"And why do you think the cooks used the same spoon? Because she made her own wedding dress!" With a weary sigh, Emily dropped her head onto the table in a sign of defeat, prompting Mark to pat her shoulder in comfort.

"All right, then," Nana announced, returning her sewing kit to her bag. "That's it for now, Mimi. I left a final stitch on the hem undone, too. That should be left until you leave for the ceremony itself." Once Mimi had disappeared into her and Roger's bedroom to change, Nana unlocked the door to leave, resulting in her being greeted by the disgruntled Roger.

"Oh? Am I allowed in now?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, it's safe to come in now. And you can loose the attitude. You will thank me someday." A minute later, after Nana had left, Mimi came out of the bedroom in her multi-colored tank top and short denim skirt.

"So, should we get going now?" she asked, grinning widely at the others.

* * *

By the time Roger, Mimi, Mark, Emily and Penny made it to the wedding coordinators, the others had already arrived. The wedding coordinator's office was completely filled with arches covered in fake ivy or flowers, mannequins in wedding attire, and tier cakes made of plaster.

"Man, this place looks like Martha Stewart on overdrive," Robbie commented, helping himself to some pastel buttermints that were left out in a candy dish. "Mmm. Rog, Mimi. You should have these buttermints in those little wedding favors. So many people use those Jordan Almonds. I don't know why. Who eats Jordan Almonds, anyway? I'd love to know." Robbie's rambling was cut off when the wedding coordinator entered. She was a rather heavyset woman in her mid-fifties, in a vibrant hot pink caftan with a green sash.

"Ah. Well!" the wedding coordinator breathed, clapping her hands once for effect. "I see you've all arrived. Now, judging from the body language, the hand holding, etc. etc., I'd say, _you_ are the hopeful couple." As the wedding coordinator spoke, she walked up to Roger and Mimi, holding out a hand with bright red nails up to an inch long. After shaking each hand in turn, she continued.

"I am Prudence Hodges, and I am here to make your big day one you shall never forget. Each wedding I have coordinated has resulted in an elongated era of exultances."

"She talks like my ninth grade English teacher." Roger heard Maureen whisper loudly to Joanne. "You know, daffy old Ms. Newport."

"Maureen, shhh!" Joanne scolded. But when Roger glanced over, he noticed a large smile on the lawyer's face, the one she always got when she was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Now, for you," Prudence continued, circling Roger and Mimi, sizing them up. "I see you two as the type who want to shout out your love to the world. I'm seeing a collection of reds, and maybe a few lavenders thrown in. Perhaps in an outdoor gazebo, with white fountains, and…"

"Um, the thing is," Mimi interrupted. "That all sounds nice, but we don't really have a lot of money, so…"

"Ah, say no more, dearie. I absolutely love it. The whole 'we have nothing, but we have everything' scenario. Delightful. And it so happens that we have an entire section in our catalogue for scenarios such as these." Prudence, with great flourish, flipped a heavy looking book that had been sitting on a table to a page near the back. "This one is one of my personal favorites. Inexpensive, but elegant all the same. The male members of the wedding party in traditional tuxedos, and the women in pastels. And we have the sweetest rental dresses for flower girls in the back room.

"In fact, this little one," Prudence paused for a moment to place a hand on Penny's shoulder. "She would look _precious_ in a little cream-colored number, with a light pink sash."

"Only one problem," Roger noted. "Wouldn't having a flower girl require a boy to be ring bearer, too? We don't happen to know many boys who could…"

"Well, wait. What about those two Robbie brought with him?" Collins inputted.

"What two boys?" Mark asked, as everyone glanced over at Robbie.

"Oh, right!" Robbie laughed. "Roger, you remember that time we met up again on Fourth of July, right? When you and Mimi were babysitting Penny?"

"Yeah," Roger replied hesitantly. What was Robbie going with this?

"Well, after that night, I thought about that stuff we talked about. You know, having kids of your own? I have to admit, after thinking about it for a couple months, the concept started to sound pretty good to me. So I started looking around and finally found a couple of kids that I just connected with."

"Wait, you went and adopted a kid?"

"Actually, two," Robbie admitted. "The agency said they refused to be adopted unless they were adopted together. Didn't really care, though. They're both great boys." Robbie started looking around the room. "Speaking of which, where'd they go? They were just here. Boys?"

"Are these dummies anatomically correct?" a new voice asked as a pair of ten-year-old boys, one Asian and the other of Native American descent, appeared from beneath the dresses of two of the female mannequins.

"WHAT DO YOU CARE?!" Emily cried suddenly, her eyes widening as she recognized the two boys, striding forward and pulling them away from the mannequins. "You two are ten-years-old. Would you be normal?"

"Hey, come on, Miss Emily!" the Asian boy complained. "You're not our caretaker anymore."

"You know those two?" Joanne looked over at Emily, who was giving both of the boys an exasperated look.

"Do we!?" Penny laughed, running up and hugging the two boys. "Rupert! Jerry! I didn't think we'd _ever _see you again!"

"Wait. Rupert and Jerry?" Mark gaped. "You mean those two boys from the Center who were always getting into mischief?"

"And you adopted them _both_?" Emily directed her question at Robbie. "I wish you luck with that. They're enough of a handful individually, but with _both of them_?"

"Aw, I think I can manage," Robbie smiled. "Of course, if things do get too out of hand, I suppose I could always come to you for advice, since you know them both so well."

"In that case, I get the feeling I'll hear from you very soon."

For the next few minutes, Prudence continued to exchange ideas with Mimi. As concepts were bounced back and forth, Robbie got Roger's attention and led him out of the room for a word.

"I tell you, Roger," Robbie began. "That girl is something else." Roger beamed as he gazed back at Mimi.

"Yeah. She sure is."

"Yeah. The thing is, I was wondering. I don't suppose you could, you know, get me her number or something?" Roger suddenly turned to Robbie in shock.

"What are you…? Do you not get what we're doing here?" he hissed. "I told you ages ago, she's mine! Did you not get me…?" Robbie, who had looked confused for a brief moment, suddenly covered Roger's mouth with his hand. The expression on his face showed he was close to laughing.

"No, Roger!" Robbie chuckled. "I was talking about _Emily_!" Roger's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked back into the room, where Emily was trying to keep Rupert and Jerry from knocking over one of the plaster cakes. For a long pause, he tried to wrap his mind around the concept. Robbie, his old band mate and friend, and Emily, a girl who he'd come to view as the sister he never had.

"I'll… I'll see what I can do," Roger replied finally.


	8. Meeting the In Laws

**AN: **These next two chapters will contain some drama. Cause it's RENT, and you can't have RENT without at least some drama, can you?

* * *

"Roger, you can stop pacing," Mimi advised, sitting on the bench outside the bus station. "It's not going to make this any easier."

"Sorry, Meems," Roger sighed. "I'm just a little edgy about this. It's been years since I last saw them."

"I haven't seen my parents in years, either," Mimi pointed out. "And at least with you, they still have some way to know what you're up to. Your parents live near Mark's parents, don't they? You can't make me believe Mark's mother doesn't pass on all the information she gets about you from Mark to your mother. My parents, on the other hand, don't have that luxury."

"Okay, you got me there." A small smile appeared on Roger's face.

"And you better remember that," Mimi smirked in response. Roger smiled tenderly at Mimi before glancing at the clock. Both his and Mimi's parents had accepted the wedding invitations, and would be arriving at any moment to meet with their child and future in-law. "Come on, Roger, baby. Sit down. They'll get here when they get here."

"Yeah, okay," Roger gave in and plopped down on the bench next to Mimi. Once Roger was sitting, Mimi entwined her fingers with Roger's and rested her head on his shoulder. They sat for a while until a pair of voices was heard.

"Hannah, stop fussing with your hair. It looks fine. We're in a bus station, not the Ritz."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to look my best when I see my baby boy!" Roger's head snapped up immediately. Mimi followed his gaze to a couple who was walking up. The man had Roger's green eyes, as well as his nose and chin. As for the woman, her hair and complexion was the same as Roger's.

"'Ey, Mom, Dad," Roger greeted hesitantly as he got up off the bench. Within an instant, Hannah had pulled her son into a large hug.

"Oh, Roger!" she cried. "I can't believe my little boy is getting married!" Hannah stepped back to get a good look at Roger. "Hmm. And what's with the necklace? And your hair? Are you a boy or a girl?"

"Mom, come on. A lotta guys are growing their hair long."

"Forget his hair," Kyle sighed, glancing at Mimi. "So, Roger. Is this the girl?"

"Yeah, Mom, Dad, this is Mimi."

"It's nice to meet you," Mimi smiled, trying to make a good first impression. "Was the trip from Scarsdale nice?"

"Well, apart from this _one _family," Kyle replied. "We were sitting right in front of this family with this son who kept kicking the back of my seat, and the daughter kept reciting the first four letters of the alphabet repetitively. And their parents didn't even _try _to get them to stop."

"Kyle, it doesn't really matter now, does it?" Hannah pointed out. "The trip's over, after all. That other family has gone off somewhere else."

"I guess you have a point," Kyle ran his hand through his hair. Mimi suppressed a giggle, remembering all the times she'd seen Roger do the exact same thing. Now, she finally knew where he picked up that habit from.

"Well, how about we get your suitcases in the van?" Roger suggested.

"When did you get a car?" Hannah sounded surprised. "We were always under the impression that most of your money went to things like food, rent, and…. your medicine."

"It does," Roger glanced at his feet awkwardly, picking up on his mother's hesitant reference to his HIV status. "It's actually our friend's van. We're just borrowing it to pick you and Mimi's parents up." Nodding in understanding, Kyle took hold of his luggage, while Roger carried Hannah's.

"I'll be along in a moment," Mimi waved. "My parents should be along soon, and I'll need to meet them." Once Roger had gone with his parents to load the suitcases in Emily's van, Mimi sat back down on the bench to wait for her parents. She hadn't been waiting for more then ten seconds when she heard a familiar voice ringing out.

"I'm hungry! When are we gonna eat!"

"We'll eat after we meet up with your sister and her fiancé. Now stop complaining." Mimi stood back up, half smiling and half wincing. She should have known her parents, Carlos and Tierra, would be bringing along her brother and sister too; the vocal Rio, and little Gracia, who had only been a baby when Mimi had left home.

"Mom, Dad!" Mimi waved, hurrying up to greet them with a hug.

"Maria! My little hija!" Tierra shrieked in excitement, returning the hug fervently. "Oh, look at you! You've become a beautiful young lady! But look how thin you are! Are you_ really _eating enough?"

"I'm fine, Madre!" Mimi insisted before hugging her mother again. "I missed you."

"Oh, we missed you too, hija!"

"What about me?" Carlos joked.

"I missed _all_ of you, Dad." Mimi laughed as she hugged her siblings and father in turn.

"Okay, we've seen her," Rio whined. "Now can we eat? I'm so hungry!"

"Yes, we're going to eat now!" Carlos groaned. "You can stop complaining, you bottomless pit. Now, then. Where is this boy that has my daughter so smitten?"

"He's taking his parents' suitcases to the van we borrowed from a friend." Mimi explained as she led her family to the parking lot. "How was the bus ride?"

"Overall, it was fine," Carlos stated. "But there was this rather rude couple who kept giving us dirty looks when Rio's leg fell asleep and he had to stretch it." The smile on Mimi's face quickly started to disappear in her worry. Did that mean what she was afraid it meant? Before Mimi could say anything, she found that they had arrived at the van.

"Hey, Meems. These are your parents, and siblings?" Roger smiled, heading over to shake Carlos' hand. As he did so, he smiled slightly, remembering Mimi's words to him on the night they had met. _'Big. Like my father's.'_

"Hi. Roger Davis," Roger introduced himself. Mimi suddenly flinched, noticing that Kyle had looked up and, judging by the look on his face, recognized her family from the bus.

"I don't believe it!" Kyle hissed. "They _followed_ us!?" Carlos and Tierra both looked over, and also recognized Kyle and Hannah.

"Why would we follow _you_?" Carlos demanded. "Like we didn't have _enough _of you glaring at us on the bus ride."

"Well, maybe you should do a better job of keeping your children in line!"

"You've got some nerve, telling us how to raise our children," Tierra stepped into the argument.

"If you could call sitting back while they act up 'raising' them," Hannah commented.

"Wait a moment. What's going…?" Roger was about to speak up, but Mimi stopped him by placing a hand on his arm.

"You know those people who were sitting behind your parents on the bus?" she whispered.

"Yeah, but what's that got to do with….?" Roger cringed, instantly realizing what Mimi was talking about. "Oh, sh-t."

* * *

Lunch had been anything but pleasant. Kyle and Hannah & Carlos and Tierra had kept shooting angry glares at one another throughout the whole meal, and all of Roger and Mimi's attempts at keeping things friendly failed miserably. Things hadn't improved when they had returned to the Loft, either. Both sets of parents were seated rather stiffly on the couch, showing their disapproval at being so close to the other, while Roger and Mimi sat nearby on the chair..

"Anyway," Kyle began, making an effort. "How exactly do you two make enough money to live here?

"I play the lead guitar in a band, and we get a decent amount of money from our gigs," Roger explained. "And Mimi works at NYU, teaching dance."

"Ah, so you're still dancing, then," Carlos eyed Mimi.

"Yes, Dad. I can't stop doing something that I love so much. I told you that before I left, remember?" For a few moments, there was silence from both sets of parents, which was broken when Gracia lightly tugged on Tierra's sleeve.

"Mama, can I have some 'uice?"

"There's some in my bag. Just be careful not to spill." Gracia took a small juice box from her mother's bag and started wandering around the Loft, drinking up the juice silently.

"When you say you're in a band," Carlos glanced over at Roger. "What sort of music do you play?"

"Mainly rock, but…"

"Oh, don't tell me he's one of _those_," Carlos mumbled.

"Sorry, one of what?" Roger held back the retort he really wanted to give out. No sense making an even bigger mess.

"Dad, don't," Mimi begged, but to no avail. Carlos had already started up.

"I've seen a great deal of those rocker punks," Carlos frowned. "Self-proclaimed bad boys, only interested in drugs, sex, and alcohol."

"Dad, he's not like that," Mimi insisted.

"Is that right? How do you he won't go… gallivanting around and start chatting up the next…."

"We've been together for over two years, excluding a rather rocky point in the first year," Mimi pointed out. "If he was like that, do you really think he'd have stuck around this long?" Carlos instantly gave in, unable to counter Mimi's argument.

"Sir, believe me, I love your daughter," Roger built up the courage to speak up. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I made that mistake once, during that rocky point Mimi mentioned, and I swore I'd never do that again." Carlos nodded once, but it seemed that Roger had passed that test.

"So, over two years," Hannah smiled. "Not to pry, but that seems like a long time. I don't suppose there's been any talk about, I don't know, a grandchild?"

"I… I'm sorry, Mrs. Davis," Mimi looked away, unable to meet Hannah's eyes. "But… it'll be too risky."

"Mom," Roger continued for Mimi, lightly squeezing her hand in reassurance. "What Mimi means is, the chances that we'd pass on HIV to a child, when we both have it….."

"_He_ has it too!?" Tierra cried out suddenly. "Maria, you never told us you _both _had it!"

"Tierra, calm down," Carlos instructed.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Tierra asked before gesturing to Mimi. "First with this one being a Cat Dancer, …."

"Mom, first of all, I _quit _that job _ages ago_." Mimi groaned. "And I wasn't a Cat Dancer, I was a dancer at the Cat Scratch."

"Cat Scratch?" Kyle's eyebrows shot up instantly. "Isn't that a _strip club_? Don't tell me _that's_ how you met, Roger."

"Dad, it wasn't like that," Roger tried to explain.

"Did she or did she not dance around in front of men, removing her clothes?" Kyle fired back. Roger winced in response. He always hated being reminded that Mimi used to do that.

"You know what they say." Kyle continued. "If you look like a duck, and act like a duck…" Roger was seized by a sudden anger. But before he could retort, Carlos beat him to it."

"Don't you dare call my daughter a slut, or a whore!"

"Oh, bit rich coming from the man who implied my son would turn out to be a cad!" The fighting quickly began to escalate, until Karl ended up accidentally knocking over some empty beer bottles, which shattered on the floor. As the sound of shattering glass filled the room, Gracia suddenly began crying from Roger and Mimi's bedroom, where she'd wandered into earlier. Tierra quickly left the room to tend to her youngest daughter, but froze at the doorway.

"Oh no!" Tierra cried. Worried by the tone in her mother's voice, Mimi went to see what had happened. The instant Mimi looked in, she realized what happened from the scene she was greeted with. When the beer bottles had smashed, Gracia had gotten scared and spilled her juice onto the box the wedding dress had been stored in. When the box was opened, it was discovered that the purple liquid had quickly leaked through the cardboard, completely staining the dress.

"Oh, dear," Hannah had followed them into the room with Roger, and had immediately seen the state of the dress. "I hope they'll be able to get this out at the dry cleaners."

"That's right, hija," Tierra consoled. "They have special procedures for cleaning wedding dresses."

"Get out," Mimi whispered. When no one moved, she spun around, glaring at everyone. "All of you! Just get out! I can't take any of you anymore! We're supposed to be getting _married_ in a few days, and all of you are just… JUST GET OUT!" After only hesitating a moment longer, the two families left the Loft for the hotel they were staying at. The stain on the wedding dress seemed to do one good thing, however. Kyle and Carlos were both looking abashed. It was as if Mimi's mention of the words 'getting married' had reminded them of why they were in New York to begin with, and all their fighting had stopped.

Once everyone had gone, Roger crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to Mimi, who was holding the stained dress as a few tears of frustration spilled down her cheek.

"It's okay, Meems," Roger whispered, pulling her close. "They're just being parents, you know? Parents wanna know if their son or daughter made the right choice. And our moms are right. I'm sure they can fix the dress."

"It's not about the dress," Mimi choked. "I just wanted to get on your parents good side."

"Yeah, I wanted to do the same with yours."

"But they're all at each other's throats now. And that was only after about an hour. What if they get into an even bigger fight at the wedding, and…" Mimi couldn't continue, but Roger knew what she was trying to say. Breathing deeply, he took Mimi's face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Meems, please listen to me for a moment. This isn't about them. It's about you, and what you want. Why did you leave home when you did? It was because you weren't about to let your parents decide your life for you, wasn't it? So why let them make your choices for you now? I know I'm not letting my parents influence me.

"Look at it this way. With Romeo and Juliet, their families were even more fu-ked up then ours. That didn't stop them, did it."

"And where are they now?" Mimi gave him a look.

"True," Roger chuckled, noticing that the corners of Mimi's mouth was slightly curved upward, a sign that she was starting to feel better. "But at least they were happy." A second later, Mimi was laughing, her arms thrown around Roger's neck.

"Come on," Mimi jumped up off the bed few seconds later, pulling on Roger's arm. "We have a wedding dress to bring to the dry cleaners." Roger smiled, seeing the sparkle had returned to Mimi's face and eyes.

"That's my girl," he grinned, gently tucking the stained wedding dress back in its box and following Mimi out of the Loft.


	9. Over the Edge

**AN: **Once again, there's major drama in this chapter. (There's a lot of that going on in my RENT stories right now, isn't there?) Just remember that all thunderstorms will end, and the rainbow will appear when it does.

* * *

"Aren't we going to bring the bridesmaid dresses?" Maureen belted, holding up the pastel green dress she'd carted over to the Loft.

"Maureen, it's just the rehearsal," Collins chucked, taking the joint out of his mouth. "No one's wearing their dresses or tuxes."

"That's what I told you before we left, honey," Joanne pointed out as Mark took Maureen's dress and draped it over the couch, next to two other dresses, Joanne's pastel yellow and Emily's pastel blue. "Besides, Mimi's dress doesn't come back from the dry cleaners until later on today. So it might be awkward for her to be the only one dressed casually."

"I guess," Maureen frowned, slightly sulking.

The Bohemians were all getting ready to head down for the church for the rehearsal ceremony, and the real wedding was taking place in two days. With the added fact that Roger and Mimi's fathers had both returned to the Loft the day after their arrival to apologize for how they'd behaved, and volunteered to not only split the dry cleaner bill between the two of them, but pay all the expanses for a reception as well, things were really starting to look up.

"Hey, are you two ready in there?" Mark called, looking over at the open door to Roger and Mimi's bedroom. "We really need to get to the church for the rehearsal."

"Yeah, we know." Roger replied, exiting the room with an arm draped over Mimi's shoulder. As they came out, Emily reached for the keys to her van, but Robbie leapt for the keys, handing them to Emily with a wide smile.

"Thanks, Robbie," Emily took the keys from him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Hey, if you need anything else, Emily, then I'm your guy." Robbie grinned. Grunting slightly, Roger shook his head as he watched, making a mental note to tell Robbie that if he really wanted to earn Emily's affections, being her personal slave probably wouldn't work as the photographer rarely liked being pampered. Now that everyone was ready, the group headed for the door. But as the door was pulled open, the phone started to ring, and Mimi answered it.

"Hello? … Yes, this is Mimi. … Wait, what?" Mimi placed a hand over the speaker. "It's the church." Instinctively, Roger headed over to join her at the phone as Mimi returned to her conversation with the church. "What do you mean the priest's in California? … What family emergency?" Mimi grimaced as the person on the other end spoke. "Okay, thank you then." Mimi slammed down the phone. "Aw, Sh-t."

"We lost the priest?" Roger concluded incredulously.

"Well, good thing Nana didn't here that," Mark groaned.

"Yeah, she'd probably say it's some sort of bad omen," Penny giggled in agreement.

"That sounds like the Nana we remember," Rupert concurred, looking up from his and Jerry's act of dropping water balloons from the fire escape, drenching the passersby below.

"Rupert, Jerry, stop bombing New Yorkers with water balloons!" Emily scolded. "This isn't the time for your antics."

"Well, it's not that bad," Mimi forced a grin. "We have another priest who's standing in."

"Who?" Roger asked.

"A Father… Damien." The Bohemians all instantly shared apprehensive glances.

* * *

"Robbie, you didn't have to come with us," Mark explained as he and Emily made their way to the dry cleaners to pick up Mimi's dress.

"I wanted to!" Robbie insisted. "I don't want to step in when Rog and Mimi are with their folks in settling some things with the reception hall stuff, and while Mo and Jo are both okay people, sitting there and watching them make out is not high on my list of things I'd like to spend time doing."

"Well, you could have kept Collins company," Emily pointed out, reaching for the door to the dry cleaners, only to have Robbie dash over and hold it open for her.

"Well, I would have, but he disappeared somewhere after the rehearsal, saying he'd catch up at the dinner tonight."

"He's probably off visiting Angel," Mark guessed.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Emily agreed. "You got the dry cleaner slip, Mark?"

"Yeah, right here," Mark confirmed, holding up the slip before handing it to the man behind the counter. "Hey, you guys. I was thinking about something. Seeing how these are our best friends getting married, we really should get them something big as a gift."

"Yeah, but you know we can't really afford much, Mark." Emily pointed out.

"I know that. But I was talking about it to Collins last night." Mark continued. "What I was thinking about was one large gift, with all of us pitching in."

"Hey, I'm game for that," Robbie grinned. "But I could cover your share if you'd like, Emily."

"Thank you Robbie," Emily sent him an exasperated look. "But while I'm not well-off, I'm still not without spare cash."

"Just an offer," Robbie shrugged, not noticing the look Mark was giving him.

The filmmaker had not been blind to Robbie's sudden attentiveness to Emily, and while he wasn't going to say anything, he seriously couldn't take in the idea of Emily and Robbie dating. He had nothing against Robbie, but he also had never perceived Emily as the type who'd go for someone like Roger's band mate. He supposed that was the reason the concept of the two of them together irked him so much. After all, there wasn't any other reason for him finding the thought so irritating.

"Sir?" the voice of the dry cleaner worker broke through Mark's thoughts. "I'm sorry, but I think we have a little problem."

"What do you mean, 'problem'?" Mark frowned.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY LOST THE DRESS!?" Mimi shouted. Mark, Emily and Robbie had just returned to the Loft, and had to break the news to their friends that the dry cleaners had 'misplaced' Mimi's wedding dress. Needless to say, the news wasn't being taken too well.

"We're supposed to be getting married the day after tomorrow!" Mimi ranted, fuming at this unexpected turn of events. "How could they have lost my dress?!"

"I'm sure we'll think of…" Robbie threw caution to the winds and risked speaking.

"Fu-k off, Robbie!" Mimi turned on him. "You're not helping!"

"Don't the dry cleaners have, I don't know, some sort of back up dresses?" Roger asked, glancing at Mark, while Maureen, Collins, Joanne, Penny, Rupert and Jerry stood by.

"None that they mentioned," Mark shook his head, also looking upset about this. "All he said was 'sorry for the inconvenience. Next visit is on us.' and nothing else."

"What if Rog's Mom, or Mimi's mom, were willing to loan the dresses they got married in?" Robbie offered another suggestion, but quickly regretted it when Mimi bit his head off again.

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP, ROBBIE!" she shrieked . "I don't want one of their dresses! So unless you can offer something actually useful, then keep your da-n mouth shut!" The echoes of Mimi's shouts hadn't died down before she stormed off to the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Immediately, Roger went after her. For a brief moment, there was silence in the Loft. But then it was broken by Maureen.

"Emily!" she began, taking the photographer by the arm. "Come on."

"Wha… what? Why?" Emily resisted, hesitant to go along with the drama queen when she was clearly scheming something up.

"Just come on!" Maureen persisted, now yanking on Emily's arm. "Joanne, let's go."

"Where're you guys…" Emily tried again, sending a pleading glance back at the others as Maureen dragged her out of the Loft, with an equally bemused Joanne following.

"Trust me, Emily," Maureen waved away Emily's hesitation with a giant grin before winking at the boys and Penny. "We'll be back," she promised, sliding the metal door shut.

* * *

In Roger and Mimi's bedroom, Mimi was huddled in the corner of the bed, sobbing with her knees pulled up to her chest. Roger gently sat down next to her, rubbing her back in an attempt to comfort her. The moment she felt his hand on her back, Mimi's head shot up.

"Hey, it'll be okay," Roger consoled.

"How?" Mimi challenged. Roger hesitated. He hadn't expected that response. "How's it going to be okay? Are things magically going to get fixed overnight? We both know life doesn't work like that."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

"No, Roger. Don't you get it? Everything's going wrong! First the wedding invitation fiasco, then it's the whole mess with our parents fighting, us loosing the first priest, then the dress is stained, and now it's gone! It's one disaster after the other! Ever since we started planning this wedding, more things have gone wrong then the things going right! What if… what if Nana was right, and the wedding is cursed or something?"

"I don't…" Roger began.

"Roger," Mimi's whisper cut him off as she looked up at him with tears running down her face. "Maybe that _is_ the problem. What if all of these things _are _the bad omens Nana was talking about, and we haven't been paying attention to them when we should have been?"

"What are you trying to say?" Roger whispered, dreading the answer. "If… if you're actually buying into all that sh-t about bad luck, and omens, and superstitions… I'm not going to let you, Mimi, I won't!" Holding back a quiet sob, Mimi took Roger's face in her hands, gazing into his eyes sadly.

"And what if that sh-t is why everything's going wrong?" Mimi dropped her hands and looked away. "I'm sorry, Roger."

"Fine then!" Roger leapt up in anger, feeling his eyes start to sting. "Buy into all that fu-ked up sh-t! See if I care!" Without another word, Roger stormed from the room, slamming the door shut. But the instant he collapsed onto the couch, he broke down, sobbing into his hands.

"Roger?" Mark took a hesitant step towards his best friend.

"Leave me alone, Mark," Roger growled through his tears. Collins and Robbie shared a glance, both realizing what must have happened and coming to a mutual agreement to slip away quietly, taking Penny, Rupert and Jerry with them to give their friend some respectful space. However, Mark silently took a seat in the chair next to the couch, ready to be there for Roger, remembering that the last time he'd seen the musician loose it like this had been right after they'd gotten the news that Angel had died.


	10. Tests of Love

When Mark woke up the next morning, he shuffled out of his room, expecting to see Roger on the couch where he'd camped out last night. Instead, he found paper torn out from Roger's old notebook with a note written in his handwriting.

_Up on the Roof. Don't bother me. I want to be alone._

Now that Mark was listening, he could hear Roger venting out his emotions on the fender as the notes floated in through the Loft window. Crumpling the letter up and tossing it into the metal barrel in the corner where he and Roger sometimes lit fires in the winter, Mark began to strongly consider going in to see Mimi. After all, Roger's note hadn't mentioned anything about not talking to her. But before he could take a step, the metal door slid open and Maureen practically flew in, followed by Joanne, who was carrying a flat white box, and a very tired-looking Emily.

"Good morning, Mark!" Maureen belted, extremely perky.

"We've been up all night," Emily mumbled, falling into a chair at the metal table and resting her head on her arm. "She better appreciate it."

"Where'd you three disappear to last night?" Mark asked.

"First, where's Mimi?" Maureen waved away Mark's question.

"In the bedroom, but what….?" Before Mark could finish, Maureen had dashed into Mimi and Roger's room and emerged moments later, pulling Mimi with her.

"Maureen, please," Mimi groaned. "I just want to be alone."

"Mimi, don't try arguing," Joanne reasoned. "We all went through a lot of trouble putting this together for you."

"Okay, what are you three talking about?" Mimi eyed the three girls.

"About this," Joanne placed the box she was carrying on the floor and opened it. Mark and Mimi both stared as Maureen and Joanne pulled out a white spaghetti strap dress with lacy embroidery sewn to the bodice and the helm.

"Where'd you get that?" Mimi gasped.

"We made it!" Maureen announced proudly.

"Three fabric stores and a whole sleepless night," Emily imputed, looking completely out of it. "And I got pricked with those pins so many times, I felt like a human pincushion. But I'm not complaining."

"Maureen came up with the idea, and we went to a few fabric stores to get the material," Joanne explained. "And Emily took up the role of model."

"But who put it together?" Mark wondered.

"Oh, didn't you _know_?" Maureen exclaimed. "Joanne was the top of her home economics class in high school!"

"We just wanted you to have a good dress to wear when you get married tomorrow, Mimi," Joanne concluded. Mimi instantly looked away, a mixture of hurt and sadness on her face.

"There's not going to be a wedding," she announced stiffly.

"What!?" Joanne and Maureen cried while Emily let out a bewildered noise.

"Come on, you three," Mimi snapped. "Just look at what's been going on since we started planning. Everything has been going wrong. It's like the wedding was cursed, and I'm starting to believe it is. That's why Roger and I can't get married. I don't want to see things get worse for us because we ignored the omens Nana was talking about."

"That's why Roger was so upset last night, wasn't it?" Mark stepped in. "Because you called off the wedding."

"I had to," Mimi replied, her voice cracking slightly. "I love him, but…. I couldn't stand it if something worse happened to us. And with the way things have been going, if we ignore more of those omens and go through with the wedding, then something _really_ bad could happen."

"Is that what you think?" Emily had appeared to have perked up a bit. "You think all of this stuff has been bad omens?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" Mimi was close to tears now.

"Well, you want to know what I think?" Emily asked. "Because I remember a time when I thought my _life_ was cursed. Everyone I cared for died. My mother, my father, and my brother. My life was always in danger, too. And I had no real friends to stand by me. That is, until I met a guy who crashed his bike in front of the Center. After that day, it was like the curse over my life ended. But the more I thought about it, the more I started thinking that my life wasn't cursed after all.

"If my parents hadn't died, Zack and I would never have come to New York. And it's because of us coming to New York that Zack became a cop, who eventually got infected with HIV while trying to protect me. And if Zack hadn't died in the way that he did, I wouldn't have been so compelled to start working at the Center. And if I hadn't been working there, I might never have met Mark, or any of you. And it's because of you that the Rat Fangs were put in jail."

"What's your point?" Mimi sighed.

"My point is, all of that 'bad luck' I had wasn't really bad luck at all. I've started to see it as what paved the way to the life I have now. I don't see any reason to not think the same about you and Roger. You still love him, don't you? And you still want to marry him, right?"

"Of course I do!" Mimi replied. "But…"

"But nothing. Mimi, if you still want to marry him and spend the rest of your life with him, don't you think that shows how strong your love really is? It takes a really big love to survive anything. Perhaps all of these disasters aren't bad omens, but tests of your love for each other. Whether or not you pass those tests is up to you. You can either let the ball fly by you, or you can take a chance, and swing the bat." For a long moment, Mimi stood there, her mouth open. But then she carefully took the dress from Joanne and Maureen, gazing at it quietly.

"You really made this for me?" she whispered.

"Think of it as part of our wedding gift to you," Joanne smiled. Seconds later, Mimi mirrored the smile, and hugged the two women in gratitude before sending the same gesture toward Emily.

"Thank you," Mimi wiped away a tear that had escaped from her eye.

"Sure, no problem," Emily smiled weakly, fighting back a yawn without much luck.

"Hey, Emily," Mark placed a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder. "If you're tired, you can get some rest on my bed."

"Mmmm. Thanks, Mark," Emily moved into Mark's bedroom like a zombie. "I just know I'll pass out halfway down the stairs if I try to get back to my pad right now." Once Emily had disappeared into Mark's room to get some rest, Maureen and Joanne both turned to leave, but Mimi stopped them.

"Hang on," she said, the bright smile returning to her face. "Please, just wait for a few minutes. I just need to do something real quickly." With that, she disappeared into her bedroom.

* * *

Roger made the journey back to the Loft from the roof. He just couldn't play anymore right now. All of his energy had been drained. And yet, he still felt unfulfilled. The memories of last night kept replaying in his head. He needed to talk to Mimi, even though he wasn't sure what to say to her.

When he entered the Loft, he didn't know, or even care, what Maureen and Joanne were doing over, and passed by them without a little more then a half-hearted wave on his way to the bedroom. But when he opened the door, his heart nearly stopped. Mimi was in the middle of putting some of her things in her duffel bag, which Roger had gotten her last Christmas. But wouldn't that mean…? No, she couldn't! Calling off the wedding was one thing, but actually _leaving_? That would have meant it was actually over!

"Mimi, what are you…" Roger whispered in shock.

"What's it look like? I'm heading over to stay with Maureen and Joanne for…"

"No!" Roger grabbed the shirt she was taking out of the closet. "Mimi, please! It doesn't have to… Meems, if you don't want to marry me, that's fine. Just don't leave." Mimi opened her mouth to say something, but Roger cut her off. "Listen, I don't care about bad luck, or omens, or any of that sh-t. And I don't give a fu-k if the wedding was cursed or not. The only thing that mattered to me is that you'd be right there, and that I'd always have you. If you're there, Meems, I wouldn't care if I had to live with bad luck for a thousand years, or however long I'm going to be alive. Because I know I could face anything if you were there to face it with me. So please, Mimi. Call off the wedding if you really want to. Just please don't tell me that we're over, too."

"Roger," Mimi fought back a laugh, taking his face in her hands. "I'm packing an overnight bag, because I'm spending the night at Maureen and Joanne's place. You might not care about bad luck, but I don't want to take the risk of more of it coming around because you saw me before the wedding."

"Wha… wait, what?" Roger gaped, extremely confused. "Are you… you mean we _are_ getting married?" In response, Mimi wrapped her arms around Roger's neck. Burying her fingers into his hair, she kissed him deeply, and was met with a passionate response.

'Does that answer your question?" Mimi grinned when they came up for air.

"Yeah, I guess so," Roger nodded, slightly breathless. "But what happened to all that talk about bad omens, and not paying attention to them?"

"Does it matter? Because I don't think it does."

"No, I don't think so, either." For the second time, the lovers shared a tender kiss. "I love you, Mimi," Roger whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "I love you so much.

"I love you too, Roger. So much." For a moment longer, they stood silently, simply holding one another, but then Roger stepped back, holding her out at arms length, bending slightly to look her straight in the eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he smirked. "Maureen and Joanne are waiting for you on the couch. Better get going if you're staying at their place tonight."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Mimi promised, quickly kissing his cheek. Then, taking her duffel bag, she left the bedroom, pausing at the door to smile back at him. Moments later, after he'd heard the Loft door sliding closed, Roger crossed the room to the bedroom window, so he could watch Mimi head down the street with Maureen and Joanne. As he did so, he couldn't stop himself from smiling at the thought that at this time tomorrow, they would truly be together, for the rest of their lives.

* * *

**AN:** I've just uploaded the picture references for this story on my photobucket account. Namily the ring and Mimi's two dresses. Aslo, this is the end of the drama in this story. From now on, it's just a humorous, fluffy story.


	11. Get me to the Church on Time

"Mark? Roger?" The distant voice, accompanied by the sound of someone knocking on the metal door, pulled Mark out of his sleep. Rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses on the crate-turned-bedside table, he sat up in his cot, scrunching his face in reaction to the bitter morning-taste in his mouth. Once the glasses were on his face, Mark chanced to glance over at the window and instantly frowned. There was quite a bit of light shining in through the window. What exactly was the time, anyway? He groped around the bedside table for his watch to glance at it. The moment he saw the time, he gave a startled cry. 10:45? They were supposed to be at the church in one hour!

Stumbling out of his room in just his boxers, he dashed across the Loft and stormed into Roger's room, shaking the sleeping musician awake and flashing his watch in his face when one of his eyes opened a crack. Roger took the watch and blinked sleepily at it before his brain registered what he was seeing.

"Fu-k!" he cried, leaping out of bed and hurrying into the bathroom for a quick shower. As the bathroom door closed, someone knocked on the Loft door.

"Guys! What are you doing in there?" Emily's voice called, starting to sound impatient. "Come on, someone answer the door. I'm two seconds away from coming in from the fire escape." Within seconds, Mark pulled open the door, and all thoughts of the late hour vanished from his mind at the sight of the photographer in the pastel blue dress she was wearing for the wedding. Sure, he'd seen her in a dress before, back when she'd worn her mother's old beatnik dress last Halloween. But this time… there was no denying that blue was definitely her color.

"Wow." Mark breathed. "You… you look nice."

"Thanks, and those are very stylish boxers." At Emily's words, Mark instantly remembered he wasn't anything apart from the striped boxers. But before he could manage to sputter out an awkward apology, Emily cast him a knowing look.

"You and Roger slept in, didn't you?" she asked.

"Yes, we did," Mark admitted sheepishly.

"Okay, then. Hurry and grab your tux. You can use my shower downstairs to clean up a bit."

"Thanks," Mark smiled slightly at Emily's nonjudgmental response, ducking back into his room to grab his tux before exiting the Loft and heading down to Emily's pad, pausing to greet Penny, already in her cream-colored flower girl dress, as they passed on the stairs.

* * *

Half an hour later, the boys had finally showered and dressed. Roger was giving himself one final glance in the bathroom mirror, visibly uncomfortable with being dressed so formally. Mark had to fight back a chuckle at seeing him continually tug the silver jean chain he'd attached to the tuxedo's black trousers, remembering how he'd insisted in wearing that chain that always hung from his jeans.

"Ready to go?" Mark asked. Instantly, Roger stepped out of the bathroom, looking completely on edge.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Can't keep Mimi waiting for much longer, can I?"

"Then let's get you to the church," Mark smiled. "Emily and Penny are waiting in the van, and we're already running late." However, as the two started to head to the door, it slid open and Emily and Penny stepped in, with expressions that said _'can this get any worse?'_

"So, Roger," Penny announced. "Collins mentioned you're quite good at reciting funeral masses. If you don't mind, would you care to say one for Mom's van's carburetor?"

"The van won't start?" Roger cried incredulously. "How are we going to get to the church on time?!"

"Okay, don't panic," Emily breathed, heading to the phone and dialing a number. "I'm going to call up Nana, since we were supposed to pick her up on the way. Maybe she'll have an idea." The group waited in silence for Nana to pick up the phone. "Hi, Nana, it's us....Yes, I know we're supposed to be there by now, but my van's carburetor died, and it won't start. Do you have anyone you know who could give us a ride?....Frank Smiley? You mean he hasn't gone into retirement in Florida yet?.....Well, if you think he'd be willing… hold on, he wouldn't be using the _company car_, would he?...._Yes_, it matters! It's a _wedding_, Nana. Showing up in a car like _that _is kind of in bad taste.....No, I don't think… Nana, no, wait!" Seconds later, she grimaced and hung up.

"So, do we have a ride?" Mark asked.

"Yes, Frank Smiley. An old bridge friend of Nana's," Emily confirmed. "That's the _good _news."

"And what's the bad news?" Roger asked hesitantly.

"He _might _be using his company car to bring us to the church."

"So, what's the problem?" Mark wondered. Emily paused for a moment before replying.

"Frank Smiley," she announced. "Is a hearse driver for the funeral home."

* * *

Outside the church, Collins was waiting by the doors, watching for any sign of Roger, Mark, Emily, Penny and Nana. The five of them were supposed to have been there ages ago, but no one answered when they called up the Loft or Emily's pad.

"You see them yet?" Joanne asked, appearing at his side.

"No, not yet," Collins shook his head. "What's keeping those guys? The wedding's supposed to begin in ten minutes. Is anyone answering the phone?"

"No," Joanne also expressed negative success at reaching the missing group. "They'd better get here soon. Robbie's starting to suggest distracting everyone with a stand-up comedy act. He might be talented in the band, but he's not that good with telling jokes."

At that moment, a sudden distraction arrived in the form of a black hearse pulling up and stopping in front of the church doors. At first, Collins and Joanne figured that the hearse had made a mistake and arrived at the wrong church. But then their confusion was replaced with surprise when the back door opened and Roger stepped out, followed by Mark, Emily, Penny and Nana. The group quickly made their way up the walk into the church, with rushed greetings of acknowledgement to Collins and Joanne.

"Hi, Uncle Collins, Joanne!" Penny waved as she hurried by to locate Maureen, who was supposed to be in charge of styling hair for the ceremony, while Roger and Mark disappeared to get to their allotted locations. "Sorry we're late!"

"I'd better go see if I can find an extra seat for Frank!" Nana announced, dashing by as well. "Letting him attend the wedding is the least we can do."

"Whoa, Emily!" Collins grabbed the photographer's arm as she passed. "What happened to you guys? And what's with the…" Collins started to gesture to the hearse. However, Emily cut him off before he could finish.

"Long story. Ask us again at the reception!" With that, Emily turned and hurried off after Penny, pulling Joanne with her. Collins blinked and glanced one last time at the hearse as the elderly driver stepped out and started walking up to the church. Shaking his head, the anarchist turned and headed back inside to tell Robbie the stand-up comedy distraction was no longer needed, deciding he'd be looking forward to his friends' explanation of the hearse escort.

* * *

**AN:** Sorry for the rushed chapter. I was suffering writer's block when I wrote this.  
The bit about Frank Smiley is based on a true story. When my parents got married, some of my dad's elderly relatives were too old to drive themselves down to the wedding. So their neighbor, a hearse driver who is known in family lore as Smiley, drove them down to the wedding. Smiley ended up staying for the wedding, and I believe he even appears in some of the wedding photos. The funniest part is Mom thought he was someone from Dad's side, while Dad thought he was relaited to Mom. They didn't find out who he really was until afterward.  
Anyway, I believe the next chaper's the last, although it might get split into two chapters once they're written.


	12. Lost in this Moment

Maureen placed one last bobby pin in Penny's styled hair before standing up.

"There, you're all set," she announced.

"Thanks, Auntie Maureen," Penny smiled, glancing in a mirror to admire her twisted bun. Penny, Maureen, Joanne and Emily were outside the sanctuary, waiting for the ceremony to begin. As they hung around, Collins, Robbie, Rupert and Jerry appeared to join them. Mark was making his entry into the sanctuary separately with Roger and the minister.

"Can't I take this tie off?" Rupert complained, tugging at his suit collar. "It's choking me."

"You can take it off when we leave for the reception," Robbie replied. "Now, remember, you two. You come in right after Maureen, Joanne and Emily does, and Penny comes after you. Then when it's over, you both exit with Penny, after Roger and Mimi."

"Yeah, we know, Dad," Jerry rolled his eyes. "It was covered at the rehearsal, remember?"

"Just behave yourselves," Emily spoke up sternly, eyeing the pair of boys. "None of your normal antics today."

"What makes you think we won't be on our best behavior?" Rupert challenged.

"Where do you want me to begin? How about putting spiders in Ms. Perkins' tea when she came to the Center for her monthly inspection? Maybe hiding yourselves in the closet so you could attack people who opened it with silly string? And let's not forget the time you locked me in the trash bin receptacle when I was cleaning it. Do I need to continue?"

"Maybe we've changed," Rupert and Jerry tried to look as innocent as possible.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Before more could be said, Collins gave off a laugh of approval as Mimi appeared with Carlos.

"Da-n, girl," Collins chuckled, giving her a friendly hug. "When Roger sees you in that dress, he's just going to melt."

"Thanks, Collins," Mimi blushed from the compliment as Maureen stepped forward to follow the example.

"Youngest one here, but the first to be married," she noted. "If I didn't know the two of you so well, I never would have expected it." Almost immediately after these words were spoken, music was heard coming out from the sanctuary.

"Well, that's the cue for us to start heading out," Joanne announced.

As the Bohemians headed out to the alter in the rehearsed order, Mimi found herself replaying old memories in her head, about all of her most treasured memories that she'd shared with Roger throughout the years, such as the night they first met, to their first date, and so much more. Her thoughts came to a halt when she felt Carlos take her hand. When Mimi turned to face her father, she saw the unusual expression on his face.

"Maria," Carlos spoke. "I just want you to know. Your mother and I are very proud of you." A broad smile instantly formed on Mimi's face.

"Thanks, Dad," Carlos returned the smile, kissing her forehead, before tightening his hold on her arm.

"Well, I suppose it's time." Sharing one final smile, Carlos led Mimi to the end of the aisle leading to the alter. Mimi's eyes immediately focused on Roger, looking completely out of character in the traditional tuxedo. Even from this distance, she could see he'd stopped breathing the moment he caught sight of her. The two did not tear their eyes off one another as Carlos led Mimi up the aisle. When they reached the alter, Carlos took Mimi's hand and physically placed it into Roger's, smiling softly as the couple immediately closed their fingers around the other's hand, before taking a seat in the pews. As the ceremony finally began, Roger and Mimi stood silently, just looking at one another, lost in thought and hardly hearing what the minister was saying. They'd finally made it.

* * *

Laughter and the buzz of multiple conversations rang out through the reception hall. At the head table where the Bohemians were sitting, Mimi leaned over to rest her head on Roger's shoulder, while the musician used one hand to contently play with Mimi's hair, and the other to bring the back of her hand to his lips, kissing it in a silent sign of love. The caterers were just starting to pass out slices of the cake to the wedding party and guests, with Roger and Mimi being served first. The second she had her slice, a mischievous grin appeared on Mimi's face. With a finger, she scrapped off some icing from her cake and smeared it onto Roger's cheek. Instantly, Roger's head spun to face her with an equally devious grin. Following her example, he scooped up some of his icing. But instead of wiping the icing on her cheek, he spread it over her lips, seconds before moving in to kiss it off. Once they came up for air, out of the corner of their eyes, Roger and Mimi saw one of the caterers place a slice in front of Emily and whisper into her ear. The photographer immediately turned to them with a surprised look of gratitude. In response, they simply smiled back at her. Roger and Mimi had both spoken to the caterers ahead of time, arranging for a sugarless substitute to the main wedding cake to be prepared for their diabetic friend, deciding that she shouldn't be left out of wedding cake just because of a disorder she'd been born with.

As the guests began on their individual cake slices, everyone was so absorbed in conversation, or, in Roger and Mimi's case, each other, no one noticed Robbie excuse himself from the head table, sending a silent signal to other members of his and Roger's band. As covertly as possible, the band members made their way to a section of the room that was hidden from view by folding walls, where they had hid their special wedding surprise. Together, they set things up as quickly but quietly as possible. After about five minutes they were ready. Robbie gave the okay nod to one of the band members, who pulled back the folding wall to reveal the group of them assembled around a set of instruments. Grinning, Robbie switched on the microphone and started talking, trying not to laugh at the confused expression on Roger's face.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Robbie called out. "I hope everyone will forgive the interruption to the festivities going on, but the guys and I thought this would be the best time to offer our personal gift to the bride and groom. After all, it's not everyday your buddy gets married, is it. Roger and Mimi Davis, this one's for the two of you." With that, the band members started playing a smooth, steady beat to a song. Letting out a breathy laugh, Roger pulled back his chair and got to his feet, holding out a hand to Mimi.

"Might as well humor them," Roger chuckled, a cheeky grin forming. "You wanna dance?" Mimi accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her to the space that had been left open as a dance floor, holding back a laugh at hearing Roger repeat the same question she'd directed at him the night they'd first met. The gleam in Roger's eyes told her that the repetition of the quote was fully intentional. When they'd reached the dance hall, Roger wrapped his arms around her waist, with Mimi draping her arms around his neck. For a moment, they simply swayed to the music, but Mimi soon laid her head against Roger's chest, listening to the beat of his heart. A contented smile stretched across Roger's face as he rested his cheek to the top of Mimi's head, inhaling the smell of her hair, and letting the words to Robbie's song surround them.

_I see your momma, and the candles and tears and roses  
I see your daddy walk his daughter down the isle  
Now my knees start to tremble as I tell the preacher  
Don't she look beautiful tonight  
All the wonderful words in my head I've been thinking  
You know I want to say 'em all just right  
I lift your vale, and angles start singing  
Such a heavenly sign _

_  
Lost in this moment with you  
I am completely consumed  
My feelings so absolute, there's no doubt  
Sealing our love with a kiss  
Waitin' my whole life for this  
Watching all my dreams come true  
Lost in this moment with you_

_I smell the jasmine floating in the air like a love song  
Watch my words draw sweet tears from your eyes  
Bow our heads while the preacher talks to Jesus  
Please bless this brand new life_

_Lost in this moment with you  
I am completely consumed  
My feelings so absolute, there's no doubt  
Sealing our love with a kiss  
Waitin' my whole life for this  
Watching all my dreams come true  
Lost in this moment with you Lost in this moment with you  
I am completely consumed  
My feelings so absolute, there's no doubt  
Sealing our love with a kiss  
Waitin' my whole life for this  
Watching all my dreams come true  
Lost in this moment with you_

After the dance had ended, and the applause had died down, Roger and Mimi headed up to thank Robbie and the rest of the band for the musical gift.

"Hey, anytime, guys," Robbie grinned, lightly slapping Roger's back and giving Mimi a friendly hug. "Anything for friends, right?"

"Yeah," Roger agreed. "But I'm surprised you didn't have someone else sing and take the chance to ask Emily to dance. I thought you wanted to get on her good side." Robbie glanced at his feet for a moment before looking back at Roger, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I did," Robbie agreed. "But I'm not blind, and I'm no idiot. I can tell that she'd much rather be with someone else." Roger followed Robbie's gaze to see Emily over at the hors d'oeuvre table, where she was having a conversation with Mark, the two of them laughing and clearly enjoying each other's company. For a moment, Roger stood watching Mark and Emily as they talked before chuckling to himself, smiling down at Mimi as he led her back to the dance floor as another slow song began to play.

When the reception began to come to a close, the Bohemians all approached Roger and Mimi. After a series of hugs had been given, Mark made a private announcement to the newly married pair.

"Roger, Mimi, I know the two of you knew about our lack of money, and so you probably weren't expecting anything big from us," Mark began. "That's why we all pitched in to get you something from all of us. Because, after all the sh-t the two of you have gone through to reach this day, we all agreed you deserved something very special." Without further preamble, Mark handed Roger a large envelope which he silently opened. As he read the papers that were inside, his jaw dropped silently.

"What is it?" Mimi asked curiously.

"They're reservations," Roger whispered in surprise. "For a week in a Fallsview Whirlpool Suite at the Embassy Suites Hotel. In Niagara Falls." Mimi instantly gasped in surprise, turning to her friends who were all grinning, visibly pleased with Roger and Mimi's reactions to their wedding gift.

"You two deserve it!" Penny smiled brightly. Fighting sobs of delight and gratitude, Mimi once again hugged her friends in thanks before throwing herself into Roger's arms, embracing him tightly with her arms and legs, and kissing him deeply, being met with a passionate response.

* * *

Mimi stood by the suite window, taking in the sight of the falls, which were illuminated by a series of rainbow-colored lights to make the view visible in the night. For what had to have been the millionth time, she silently thanked her friends for this incredible gift. To think they had this suite for an entire week.

As Mimi continued to enjoy the choice view, she sensed more then felt Roger come up behind her to share in the scenery. After a few seconds, Roger wrapped his arms around her, hugging her from behind, before placing small kisses on her shoulder and neck. Mimi gave a soft moan, and turned around to face Roger, taking his face in her hands.

"Can you really believe it?" she asked softly. "We actually did it! We're married!" Roger fixed her with an extremely loving gaze, and covered her hands with his.

"I just wish I'd asked you sooner," he replied sincerely.

For a long time, they were absolutely quiet, doing nothing but looking right into each other's eyes, chocolate brown meeting with emerald green. Giving into emotion, they came together for a seemingly endless kiss. When they broke apart, they remained in each other's arms, with Roger gently rocking them back and forth. After a few seconds went by, he began to hum _Your Eyes_ into Mimi's ear, which brought a contented smile to the dancer's face.

As the night wore on, the lovers could only wish for one thing, that this night would never end.

* * *

**AN: **The song Robbie sings is Lost in this Moment, by Big & Rich. I also hope this chapter wasn't too rushed and jumbled. I had to drop some things I had originally planned to include into this chapter, because I couldn't fit them in without making things too bunched together. Anyway, as you might have guessed, the next chapter's the last. (Just to warn everyone, it's super short, only about a paragraph long. But it can't really fit into this chaper, so it's on it's own.)


	13. Epilogue

Penny tucked the covers more snuggly around Lucia, who'd fallen asleep shortly after the conclusion of the story. The nine-year-old had been an avid audience, forcing herself to stay awake to the end. But now, sleep had finally overcome the little girl, and she was fast asleep, hugging Mr. Twiggers tightly.

Smiling, Penny tucked a stray lock of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear before leaving the bedroom to make her way downstairs. Once she'd come into the living room area of the Condo, Penny immediately crossed the room to a particular wall-mounted shelf. This was the shelf that had been dedicated to Roger and Mimi. It was always adorned with pictures of them, as well as a partially melted candle, the same candle that had played a role in their first meeting.

With mixed feelings brought about by a multitude of pleasant memories, Penny removed the photograph that had been taken at the wedding and took a moment to study the images of Roger and Mimi, their tangible joy captured perfectly in the framed picture. The picture still in her hand, Penny crossed the room to the window and opened it, looking up at the night sky. While the city lights blocked out the gleam of the stars, the bright moon could still be seen, shining down on the world.

As Penny gazed up at the moon, her hold on Roger and Mimi's wedding picture tightened as the tiniest of smiles appeared on her face. There had been a reason why she'd chosen the story of Roger and Mimi's wedding as Lucia's bedtime story. It wasn't just to satisfy Lucia's wish for a story, but also to prepare herself for tomorrow, and what it should have been to the Bohemian family, to Roger and Mimi.

For one final time, Penny looked down at Roger and Mimi's wedding picture, before turning her eyes back to the heavens.

"Happy fourteenth anniversary, Uncle Roger and Aunt Mimi," Penny whispered into the night wind.


End file.
